Centre for the Study of Existential Risk

Exploring climate truths through climate fiction: How can the climate How can stories help us to face the climate crisis and imagine what comes next? Climate fiction, or cli-fi, blends real-world science with imagined futures, inviting us to explore how climate change

🔵 Exploring climate truths through climate fiction - Reflect on the climate stories that stay with us, and consider how storytelling might help us to navigate difficult truths while still imagining better futures.
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Bookings are open now: buff.ly/nYLIzkq

The world in 2050 and far beyond with Professor Martin Rees In this talk, Professor Martin Rees, Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge, will discuss his vision for the future of humanity and science. Lord Martin Rees

🔵 The world in 2050 and far beyond with Professor Martin Rees - A discussion on humanity’s long-term future and the prospects for science in the decades ahead.
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Preparing for the next pandemic First, join Dr Suzannah Rihn to learn how pandemics start and how we can identify the features that enable cross-species transmission of viruses as well as how to anticipate new threats.

🔵 Preparing for the next pandemic - Explore how pandemics begin, research on SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, and the factors influencing immune responses and vaccine effectiveness.
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Ness: Displaced “Listen to the rumoured motion of the rumoured bodies on the rumoured shore… Listen to Ness.” Adapted from Robert Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood’s poem, Ness, this immersive sonic performance

Here are some of CSER's picks for the @cambridgefestival.bsky.social covering topics from global health & climate to long-term planetary risk!

🔵 Ness: Displaced - An immersive performance responding to environmental conditions on Orford Ness, a former nuclear test site.
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Developed by S. M. Amadae, Caro Carter and Kim Keskiivari, the course explores how nuclear weapons shape today’s security environment. Topics range from deterring conventional, nuclear and cyber attacks to shaping global power, alliances and crises.

Read more here: buff.ly/8X4xvIm

📢 New open online course examines nuclear weapons and global security.

S. M. Amadae, Director of CSER, has led the launch of a new open online course through the University of Helsinki, Nuclear Weapons: Planetary Risks and Human Consequences.

Learn more about the team and the course on our website: www.cser.ac.uk/education/mp...

Meet the education team behind the MPhil in Global Risk and Resilience!

Our education team brings together expertise from AI governance to pandemic preparedness and disaster risk.

We'd like to welcome Catherine Rhodes as a visitor to CSER!

Catherine will be working on projects, including editorial work for a new handbook on global catastrophic risks & papers exploring various aspects of systems approaches to governance of GCRs
www.cser.ac.uk/team/catheri...

Congratulations to Alix de Saint-Aignan for being selected as a 2026 Gates Cambridge Scholar! 🎉

We're looking forward to welcoming Alix to the MPhil in Global Risk and Resilience at CSER in October.

L’orologio dell’Apocalisse non è mai stato così vicino alla mezzanotte Più che i rischi connessi all’uso malevolo delle nuove tecnologie, specialmente in campo militare, a preoccupare è l’elevato grado di conflittualità a livello …

For our Italian speaking audience:

SM Amadae spoke to Le Scienze about the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists's Doomsday Clock and how we can start to address the risks raised in this years announcement.
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www.lescienze.it/scienze-soci...

This term, MPhil students can choose from 5 electives, exploring some of the most pressing global risks from AI governance and biological risk to nuclear weapons, disaster risk and the role of finance in risk mitigation.

Learn more about each elective on our website: buff.ly/QO9Mqs3

Do not miss this week's CEENRG Seminar with Penelope Ridings - she was also the Chair of the Sandeel case between the EU and the UK.

www.landecon.cam.ac.uk/event/joint-...

AI in the Museum If museum objects could talk, what questions would you ask them?

Event: If museum objects could talk, what questions would you ask them? Join us for this interactive event at the Polar Museum on Saturday 28 February. More info:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ai-in-the-...

📢 Closing Sunday 8th February: Assistant Professor in Global Risk and Resilience!

Have questions about the role, the recruitment process, or how to apply? Visit our FAQs to find out more ⬇️
www.cser.ac.uk/people/join-...

There's still time to apply for the MPhil in Global Risk and Resilience!
We welcome applicants from diverse disciplines & backgrounds with a passion for tackling global challenges.

Application deadline: 5 March 2026
Find out more: buff.ly/Tc3986i

📢 Last week to apply: Assistant Professor in Global Risk and Resilience

CSER is looking for an Assistant Professor to lead research in global risk and resilience & contribute to teaching, assessment & admissions for CSER's MPhil.
Deadline: 8 February 2026
Apply here: buff.ly/vD7LEnz

Educating AI developers to prevent harmful path dependency in AI resort-to-force decision making The integration of AI technology into resort-to-force decision making would give machines influence over decisions determining the life or death of countless people. Despite this prospective impact...

This is the 2nd of a 3 part series on "Developers, Integrators, Users".
Read part 1 here: buff.ly/KyJUDdr

Integrators at war: Mediating in AI-assisted resort-to-force decisions | Cambridge Forum on AI: Law and Governance | Cambridge Core Integrators at war: Mediating in AI-assisted resort-to-force decisions - Volume 1

A new paper by Maurice Chiodo, Dennis Müller and Mitja Sienknecht explores the role of integrators in AI-assisted resort-to-force decision making.
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📣 Cambridge Seminar Series on Law and the Climate Crisis – Lent Term 2026
6 , 13, 20 & 27 Feb. Dr Ugljesa Grusic, Dr Hao Zhang, Dr Pedro Schilling de Carvalho & Dr Franziska Arnold-Dwyer
Free reg: climatehughes.org/the-cambridg...
@harrovanasselt.bsky.social @cambridgezero.bsky.social

Thank you to Myrle Ballard, for joining CSER on Monday to explore how Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Indigenous science can provide critical insights into understanding extreme events.

Thank you to everyone who joined the seminar!

Have questions about the MPhil in Global Risk and Resilience?

Our FAQs cover key information about how to apply, funding and what to expect from the course.
👉 Visit the FAQs on our website to learn more.
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Stop admiring the problem: let’s get to work on reducing catastrophic risk A response to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 2026 Doomsday clock announcement from the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge In a year when the Doomsday Clock ...

The Doomsday Clock is now 85 seconds to midnight.

In our response to the @thebulletin.org announcement, we reflect how new forms of global cooperation are essential for navigating today’s risks and how meaningful progress is still possible.
Read the full response below ⬇️
bit.ly/49KSNOC

Are we safer this year than we were last year? Tomorrow, watch the 2026 Doomsday Clock announcement to hear what experts think.

Tomorrow, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Science and Security Board will reveal the 2026 Doomsday Clock time.

The announcement will be livestreamed at this link and on the Bulletin's YouTube channel: buff.ly/BGu0Zse

We'd like to welcome Anthony Torres-Ruesta to CSER as a new Research Associate!

His work examines the challenges & dual-use implications of AI for pandemic preparedness and response. His research sits at the intersection of infectious disease science, global health, and biosecurity.
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How to read the Doomsday Clock The Doomsday Clock depicts how close humanity is to armageddon – but where did it come from, how do you read its time, and what can we learn from it?

On 27th Jan, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists will announce the 2026 Doomsday Clock time.
Curious about what the clock means? Read SJ Beard’s 2025 article "How to Read the Doomsday Clock" to learn about its history, how it is set, and what it can tell us about global risk.
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Interested in researching and teaching global risk & resilience at the University of Cambridge?
ITH is recruiting an Assistant Professor to join CSER to lead research & contribute to teaching on the MPhil in Global Risk and Resilience.

Deadline: 8 February 2026
Apply here: buff.ly/Fhnd0pW

Very exciting to see our study on #wastewatersurveillance referenced in the @financialtimes.com highlighting the value of near-source, building-level surveillance alongside national systems.
#episky
#IDsky
www.ft.com/content/b498...

New national network Evidence Exchange to enable civil and public servants to learn and connect with research organisations - Centre for Science and Policy New national network Evidence Exchange to enable civil and public servants to learn and connect with research organisations.

📢 New national network connecting civil and public servants with research organisations.

The Evidence Exchange project, led by CSaP, will establish UK-wide infrastructure for Policy to Research opportunities. The consortium includes Alexandru Marcoci from CSER.
Read more here:

Visual methodologies in documenting community knowledge in planning - CRASSH Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities

Open call 📣

CRASSH's Community Design Lab & the Cambridge Room invite artists and collectives to apply for a £2,000 commission to support a project that explores how Cambridge is understood through its social, spatial, historical, and cultural layers

Apply by 19 Jan
https://bit.ly/3XDXymf